Two parish basketball players make All-Metro team
It’s never too late to honor great athletes.
The basketball season came to a close a long time ago, but the players that made the year so special are still getting rewarded. Recently, the boy’s and girl’s basketball All-Metro teams were released for the Baton Rouge area.
There were two of the parish’s athletes that received recognition.
Both White Castle’s Ja’Tyre Carter and Plaquemine’s Keandre Randall were first-team selections on the boy’s basketball All-Metro squad.
The White Castle boy’s basketball team experienced one of the most memorable seasons in recent memory this past year as they brought home the Class 1A state title.
The Bulldogs played a brutal schedule throughout the season that prepared them for the fierce competition they would face in the postseason.
White Castle went 21-13 during the regular season, but 11 of the 13 losses came against upper-classification teams. Their only two defeats in 1A came to district champion Southern Lab—eventual state runner-up in Division IV.
The Bulldogs were runners-up in District 6-1A, and they pulled off huge non-league victories against Donaldsonville (3A), Assumption (4A) and St. Amant (5A).
White Castle entered the Class 1A playoffs as the No. 4 seed, but from the very start, they played like the top team in the tournament.
The Bulldogs dominated from start to finish.
In their impressive state championship run, White Castle won all of their games by at least 13 points.
Overall, they won by an average margin of 71-45 throughout the five games.
In the state title game in Lake Charles, they cruised past sixth-seeded Tensas, 60-47, to capture the crown.
The driving force in the championship victory was their six-foot-five, 280-pound senior center in Carter.
Carter averaged 17 points and 10 rebounds per contest, and in the the state championship game, he was named MVP after scoring a game-high 19 points and pulling down 17 rebounds.
Carter was also first-team All-District 6-1A and first-team All-State.
Plaquemine didn’t bring home a state title in 2016-17, but Randall helped power his Green Devil team to a tremendous season that culminated in a deep playoff run.
Plaquemine went 26-7 during the regular season. This included a 12-2 run to start the year and a 10-2 tear in the final 12 games.
The Green Devils went 9-1 in District 6-4A, allowing them to bring home the district championship.
They entered the Class 4A playoffs as the No. 6 seed.
Plaquemine beat Cecilia and LaGrange in the first two rounds by a combined margin of 139-95 to punch their ticket to the state quarterfinals.
In quarterfinal action, the Green Devils were eliminated on the road by third-seeded Westgate, 90-81.
Randall was superb throughout the season. The senior guard averaged 19 points, three steals and two assists per game.
He was named the District 6-4A MVP, and he was a second-team All-State selection.
Baton Rouge area All-Metro Team:
Outstanding Player - Ja’Vonte Smart (Scotlandville)
Josh Anderson (Madison Prep)
Le’Aaron Cain (East Ascension)
Ja’Coby Carter (Jehovah-Jireh)
Ja’Tyre Carter (White Castle)
Dexter Dennis (Baker)
Azahren Ernest (Southern Lab)
John Jones (University)
Josh LeBlanc (Madison Prep)
Jalen Perkins (Walker)
Tyrece Radford (McKinley)
Keandre Randall (Plaquemine)
Jordan Wright (Dunham)
